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Category: Higher Education

Bruce Levenson is the former owner of Atlanta Hawks. In a report by Forbes.com, he sold this team in 2014. Post this; he surprised all by getting in the non-profit segment. This was by funding the Do Good Institute, which is at the University of Maryland.

This is something that has been totally unprecedented in the higher education realm. The Do Good Institute aims to reach students when they are at their undergraduate level and studying at the University of Maryland, https://www.benzinga.com/news/17/03/9165680/university-of-marylands-non-profit-initiative-is-changing-higher-education. It exposes these students to the completely different world that is all about non-profit as well as volunteering. This is done with a hope of creating the next line of business leaders who are focused on non-profit. They are molded into those individuals who can compete against their counterparts who are focused on the private sector. Such a program has been able to garner a tremendous response.

The UCG founder, Bruce Levenson clearly stated that he found these as amazing organizations. All these were being headed by some extraordinary persons. He felt that these organizations were not being able to fulfill their mission as they did not have the business skills which are required in order to be successful. This is why Bruce Levenson along with his wife Karen went to the University of Maryland along with this idea. This is where they seeded this initiative worth $75 million. The state of Maryland put in their additional $20 million for this initiative.

This is how the first class came about. It was called Philanthropy 101. This had a lab component. Here the students had $10,000 which they were allowed to allocate to any cause they wanted. This was something that hit off the campus immediately.

Basically the Do Good Institute had two major missions. It wanted to make the campus a Do Good campus. This way every student who graduates will be informed and gets motivated enough to give back.